ATLANTA, GA — By a unanimous vote count of 46 to 0, the Georgia Senate last week voted to “pass by substitute” HB 1374, the legislative measure that will close a significant loophole in the state's procurement process that has allowed vendors to avoid competitive bidding on state contracts worth hundreds of thousands — and in some cases billions — of taxpayer dollars.
The amendment, proposed by Senator Blake Tillery to House Bill 1374 by Representative Lee Hawkins, would require any vendor renewing a state contract valued above $100,000 to go through a competitive bidding process.
Under current state rules, vendors providing goods and services valued at more than $100,000 are required to go through a competitive bid process.
However, Georgia's appropriations process has revealed that some state agencies have not consistently followed these procurement rules — allowing vendors to potentially exploit a loophole by entering into initial contracts valued at less than $100,000, then renewing those contracts at amounts that far exceed the bid threshold without ever going through competitive bidding.
"This is a good government bill and I hope it will help put an end to some of the games that folks think are fun to play with state dollars," said Senator Blake Tillery.
The amendment passed the Senate last week and now heads to the House for final passage.
The legislation comes on the heels of a report from HealthBeat Atlanta last month, which found that billionaire Rick Jackson's companies have been paid nearly a billion dollars by state agencies since fiscal year 2020.
The report also noted that a Department of Public Health representative refused to answer questions about that agency's contracts with Jackson Healthcare subsidiaries.
Legal and ethics experts have warned that if Jackson becomes Governor, he may need to take significant steps to separate his business interests from the office to avoid ethical or legal challenges over conflicts of interest — raising serious questions about what a Jackson administration would mean for Georgia taxpayers.
If signed into law, the measure would ensure that all contract renewals above the $100,000 threshold go through a competitive bid process — closing the door on the kind of procurement abuse that has benefited well-connected vendors at the expense of taxpayers.
